TICK(et) TALKTickets for all home matches are available at RIMAC Arena beginning one hour prior to start time. UCSD students are admitted free with a valid ID. General admission ticket prices are $8 for adults and $5 for seniors, UCSD Alumni Association members and visiting students.

SMILE, YOU'RE ON CAMERABoth matches this week will feature a live video stream from RIMAC Arena. To access the stream for free, click here.

STAT ME UPIf you can't make it to the arena, another great way to follow the action is through Live Stats. Every home match will be covered by Live Stats, which allows users to "watch" the match point by points, check in-game statistics and view a play-by-play of the action all for free on their computer. To access Live Stats, follow this link: http://bit.ly/fsRBt5.

SOCIALLY ADEPTThere's now more ways than ever to follow the Tritons. Of course, you've always got ucsdtritons.com at your fingertips, but our social media scene is growing by the day. Get instant updates on Twitter at twitter.com/ucsdathletics and like us on Facebook at facebook.com/ucsdtritons. For a more visual approach, watch us on YouTube at youtube.com/ucsdathletics.

POLL VAULTHere's a week-by-week look at UCSD in the 2011 AVCA poll:

Preseason

Receiving votes

Jan. 10

Receiving votes

Jan. 17

15th

Jan. 24

15th

Jan. 31

12th

Feb. 7

12th

Feb. 14

12th

Feb. 21

13th

Feb. 28

13th

Mar. 7

15th

Mar. 14

14th

Mar. 21

14th

PEPPERDINE REWINDUCSD upset Pepperdine in a five-set thriller at Firestone Fieldhouse on Mar. 12. The Tritons won the first two sets by scores of 25-22 and 38-36, but the Waves picked up some momentum and won the next two, 25-20 and 25-22. UCSD came from behind to take the fifth and deciding set, 17-15. The win snapped a seven-match losing slide for UC San Diego. Carl Eberts set a new career-high with 22 kills and posted his second career double-double by adding 10 digs. His kill total was also a match best. A couple more career highs were set by freshmen as Nick Iorfino had 16 kills Mike Brunsting finished with 14. Calvin Ross also recorded a double-digit kill total with 13 and hit .632 (13-1-19). Brunsting, Ross and freshman Sebastian Brady all had five blocks and Phil Bannan totaled 66 assists. For the Waves, Beau Vandeweghe led with 19 kills and eight digs. Cory Riecks had 14 kills while Matt Pollock and Tyler Jaynes had nine and eight blocks, respectively. Both teams posted solid block totals, with Pepperdine totaling 17.5 and UCSD 12. The Tritons out-hit the Waves .265 (75-35-151) to .223 (61-28-148). UCSD made 21 errors at the service line.

USC REWINDCarl Eberts and Sebastian Brady each banged down a match-high 11 kills, but it wasn't enough to get past the top-ranked team in the nation as the Tritons were swept at USC on Mar. 11. Set scores were 25-23, 28-26 and 25-23 at the Galen Center. Neither team hit particularly well, but USC was aided by a solid blocking performance. UCSD hit .181 (41-24-94) and USC swung at .232 (34-15-82) overall. The Trojans out-blocked the Tritons 12 to five. Brady hit .600 with 11 kills and two errors in 15 attacks. He finished with a team-high 12.5 points. It was the second double-digit kill total for Brady, a freshman middle blocker, this season. He set a career-high with 15 kills at No. 2 BYU. For the second time this season, Murphy Troy and Tony Ciarelli led the Trojans in kills against UCSD. This time, Troy had 11 and Ciarelli 10. Troy and Henry Cassiday led all players with seven digs.

WHAT'S A BUCKEYE?Ohio State enters Thursday's match with just two losses on the season - both of them at Pepperdine to start the year. The Buckeyes have won their last 17 matches and are undefeated in the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association (MIVA) at 10-0. Opposite Shawn Sangrey has been named the MIVA Offensive Player of the Week four times this season while libero Mike Berzins and setter Steven Kehoe have each been tabbed the MIVA Defensive Player of the Week twice. A buckeye is a small, shiny, dark brown nut with a light tan patch that comes from the official state tree of Ohio, the buckeye tree.

TRITONS v. BUCKEYESThe UCSD/Ohio State series is tied at 2-2. In 2006, the Buckeyes won a pair in Columbus, while the Tritons won both meetings in La Jolla in 2003.

SCOUTING UCLAUCLA, which was off last week for exams, is riding a five-match win streak and will host No. 5 UC Irvine Thursday before coming to La Jolla. The match will serve as the final event at Pauley Pavilion for over a year as interior renovations are scheduled to begin on Apr. 1 and be completed in the fall of 2012. Three of the five wins in the current streak were against MPSF teams - Pacific, Cal State Northridge and Long Beach State. Weston Dunlap leads UCLA offensively, averaging 2.66 kills/set with a total of 258.5 points. He also has a team-best .93 blocks/set average. Gonzalo Quiroga, who was the MPSF Player of the Week on Mar. 14, is putting down 2.60 kills/set and Kyle Caldwell is just behind at 2.55. UCLA is leading its opponents in just about every statistical category including kills/set (12.72-12.14), attack percentage (.310-.280), aces/set (1.26-1.00), blocks/set (2.40-2.23) and total points (1408.5-1322.0). Opponents hold a 7.87 to 7.37 edge in digs/set.

TRITONS v. BRUINSUCLA holds a commanding 48-3 advantage in the all-time series, but the Tritons have won the last three MPSF matches between the two squads dating back to 2009. They've already met once this year in a non-conference tilt at UC Santa Barbara's annual tournament in early January. The Bruins won that match, 3-1.

THE BIG CARLOutside hitter Carl Eberts has posted double-digit kill totals in 13 of his last 15 matches, including a career-high 22 in the upset at Pepperdine on Mar. 12. The 22 kills is the most put down by any Triton this year. The sophomore recorded his second career double-double in that match by adding 10 digs. He leads UCSD in total kills, kills per set, attack attempts, total digs, total points and points per set. Eberts owns five of the top 10 kill totals for a single match this season.

THE STORY OF A MAN NAMED BRADYFreshman Sebastian Brady is currently hitting .421, good for sixth among all MPSF players. If the season were over, Brady's attack percentage would rank third on UCSD's single season list behind Adrian Guthals, who hit .450 in 2010 and .442 in 2009. Brady's had 10 matches that he's hit better than .400 in, including a career-best .889 (8-0-9) vs. Cal Baptist in just his third match as a Triton.

FIVE ALIVEThe Tritons have played three five-set matches this season and are 2-1 with upset wins over Pepperdine and Hawai'i and a loss against BYU (the first time ever that UCSD had taken BYU to five). UCSD is out-scoring opponents 44-38 in the fifth set, the only frame that they lead their opponents in.

CHASE THE ACEPhil Bannan already became UCSD's career aces leader earlier this year, but he's chasing another school record in the same stat category. He's dropped in 39 service aces this season, the second highest single season total in school history. The record belongs to Eric Mai, who had 54 in 1997. Bannan needs 16 more to take over.

1,012 STRONGUCSD set an all-time attendance record on Saturday, Mar. 5th as 1,012 fans filed into RIMAC Arena to see the No. 13 Tritons take on third-ranked Stanford. The previous record for attendance at a Triton volleyball match was 906, set in 2009 with UCLA in the house.

RECORDS ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN. AND BROKEN. AND BROKEN.When UCSD and Pepperdine met in La Jolla on Feb. 4, the Waves took a 3-1 win but two Tritons ended up breaking career records. Senior setter Phil Bannan became UCSD's all-time leader in assists and service aces, while senior middle blocker Calvin Ross finished the match as the school's career leader in blocks.

SENIOR NIGHT COMING UPFollowing this week's matches, UCSD plays four straight on the road before finishing the regular season at home with Senior Night on Saturday, Apr. 16. Prior to the match against UC Irvine, four seniors will be honored - Phil Bannan, Joel Davidson, Calvin Ross and Paul Spitsen.